Turkish Professor says some HIV and malaria drugs somewhat effective against coronavirus

Prof. Dr. Ateş Kara, member of the Scientific Board and lecturer at Hacettepe University Faculty has made a statement about two corona cases that appeared in Turkey and also saying “We know that some HIV drugs and some malaria drugs are somewhat effective”.

Prof. Kara said, “we learned from the statement of Health Minister Fahrettin Koca that this case is in contact with the first case and is evaluated together. When we identified the first case, we asked who this person could have infected. We thought about it and identified a group of contacts. This virus also appeared among those contacts. That was an advantage for us. Because we knew the patient had contact with these people, we quarantined them and kept them under surveillance for 14 days alone. This incident also developed during this monitoring period. In that respect, it is not likely that said person infected someone else or spread it to others. That’s an advantage for us”.

Prof. Dr. Kara also said following about the treatment method applied to corona virus patients:

“First, we give oxygen support, fluid support or machine support to the heart and lungs, which we call ‘support therapy’ in general. These are supportive treatments. Direct treatments to eliminate the virus are being studied. But today, the treatment that catches, kills or stops the virus has not been shown to be definitive. But we know that some HIV drugs and some malaria drugs are somewhat effective. We know that they are effective and weaken the virus, even though they are not a hundred percent effective in a direct way. That gives us a huge advantage. This is the point where we say ‘ let’s delay the virus a little bit, the later we get the virus into Turkey, the more advantageous it is. As soon as we saw that these drugs existed and China had tried several drugs alike, we made a proposal to the Ministry as the Science Board. These drugs have been purchased and are available in Turkey. At the moment, these 2 patients have been given these drugs and started to be used” he said.

About the condition of  patients the professor said, “I know the patients’ condition is not very severe. But it can move forward and get heavier. If they’re young, we don’t expect them to get heavier, but if they’re over 55-60, then the disease can get heavier. In that respect, we hope our patients will recover as soon as possible”.